A long standing need exists in the pharmaceutical, medical, hospital, home, military, commercial and industrial fields for a desirable and effective device and method useful for controlling the presence of unwanted microorganisms in all kinds of environments, and for maintaining certain articles of manufacture free thereof. One biocide useful for this purpose is a biocide containing chlorine as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,183,057 by patentees Marks et al. In this patent, there is disclosed chlorinous gases, especially nitrogen trichloride, including monochloramine, for use in large areas such as railroad freight cars, trucks, storage rooms and the like for the preservation of fruit products. The preferred chlorine compound is nitrogen trichloride and it is used by the patentee for inhibiting the decay of fruit by spores and fungus by releasing the gas. While this procedure can be useful in certain applications, it also has disadvantages for disinfecting selected environments and articles of manufacutre, for example, the procedure lacks continuous controlled and sustained release, as the reaction between the components would go to completion upon exposure to the article of this patent to a liquid, such as in a water-moist environment. This process gasses the atmosphere even when the gas may not be needed, and the patent does not suggest a device for producing a biocide containing chlorine in the environment of use of a controlled rate and released in known biocidal amounts.
Similarly, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,577,532 issued to Schneller et al, two reagents, chlorine and ammonia are made to react for producing a product that includes monochloramine. The product is useful for controlling deterioration by microbiological attack in pharmaceutical preparations. The process in this patent for generating monochloramine consists of a two-step addition process, wherein one of the reagents is always the gas ammonia. That is, the patent does not disclose a formulation containing two or more solid reagents that can react and generate in situ a biocide containing chlorine for disinfecting environments and articles of manufacture. Also, in J. Pharm. Sci., Vol. 65, pages 1737 to 1742, 1976, Kaminski et al disclosed chlorine compounds having antimicrobial activity; however, the disclosures do not teach the compounds can be used in a dispensing device and releases therefrom at controlled rates for the present purposes.
In light of the above presentation, it is apparent a need exists for a device useful for generating a biocidal compound containing chlorine, and for a device that can deliver a compound containing chlorine at a controlled rate for extended periods of time. There is a need particularly for a device that is not subject to the difficulties known to the prior art. The need also exists for a device which delivers a biocidal containing chlorine that is useful for controlling the presence of unwanted micro-organisms.